Revised Common Lectionary

Please note that two distinct lectionaries are provided on this page: the two-year Daily Lectionary from the Book of Common Worship and the three-year Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) for Sundays and festivals; be sure you select the appropriate one.

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, September 30, 2018, the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

1So the king and Haman
went in to feast with Queen Esther. 2On the second day, as they were
drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, "What
is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you.
And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom,
it shall be fulfilled." 3Then Queen Esther answered,
"If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases
the king, let my life be given me — that is my petition — and
the lives of my people — that is my request. 4For we have been sold, I and my
people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be
annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men
and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can
compensate for this damage to the king."
5Then King Ahasuerus
said to Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where is he,
who has presumed to do this?" 6Esther said, "A foe and
enemy, this wicked Haman!" Then Haman was terrified
before the king and the queen.

9Then Harbona, one of
the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, "Look,
the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai,
whose word saved the king, stands at Haman's house,
fifty cubits high." And the king said, "Hang
him on that." 10So
they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for
Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.

9:20Mordecai recorded
these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were
in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and
far, 21enjoining them
that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month
Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same month, year
by year, 22as the days
on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies, and
as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow
into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they
should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for
sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the
poor.

Psalm 124:1-8

1If it had not been the
LORD who was on our side

— let Israel now say —

2if it had not been the
LORD who was on our side,

when our enemies attacked us,

3then they would have
swallowed us up alive,

when their anger was kindled against us;

4then the flood would
have swept us away,

the torrent would have gone over us;

5then over us would
have gone

the raging waters.

6Blessed be the LORD,

who has not given us

as prey to their teeth.

7We have escaped like a
bird

from the snare of the fowlers;

the snare is broken,

and we have escaped.

8Our help is in the
name of the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

Second Reading James 5:13-20

13Are any among you
suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They
should sing songs of praise. 14Are any among you sick? They
should call for the elders of the church and have them
pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of
the Lord. 15The prayer
of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them
up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.
16Therefore confess
your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so
that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is
powerful and effective. 17Elijah was a human being like us,
and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for
three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
18Then he prayed again,
and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its
harvest.

19My brothers and
sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and
is brought back by another, 20you should know that whoever
brings back a sinner from wandering will save the
sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude
of sins.

Gospel Mark 9:38-50

38John said to him,
"Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your
name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not
following us." 39But Jesus said, "Do not stop
him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will
be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40Whoever is not against us is for
us. 41For truly I tell
you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because
you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the
reward.

42"If any of you
put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who
believe in me, it would be better for you if a great
millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown
into the sea. 43If your
hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for
you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go
to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45And if your foot causes you to
stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life
lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.
47And if your eye
causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you
to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two
eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48where their worm never dies, and
the fire is never quenched.

49"For everyone
will be salted with fire. 50Salt is good; but if salt has
lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in
yourselves, and be at peace with one another."